Pet owners are urged not to give them to their cats but return them for a full refund.

A Food Standards agency statement read: “Hill’s Pet Nutrition is recalling certain packs of cat food pouches because there are high levels of iron present in the pet food as a result of an error by an ingredient supplier.

“Your cat should not eat an affected product.

“The FSA is issuing this product recall notice because we are responsible for animal feed regulations and the enforcement of pet food labelling through local authorities.

“Hill’s Pet Nutrition, the pet food company which sells this product, has started a recall of the affected products in all countries where they have been placed on the market, including a recall from pet owners, distributors and wholesalers, in local language on its country websites.

“This is as a precautionary measure following an error by an ingredient supplier, which resulted in 85g pouches being manufactured incorporating high levels of iron, some of which were packed into multipacks with unaffected products.”

A spokesperson for the manufacturer said: “Hill’s Pet Nutrition is voluntarily recalling specific manufacturing batches of the single serving cat food pouches.

“Due to an error by an ingredient supplier, the products contain high levels of iron.

“Iron is an essential nutrient in a cat’s diet but too much iron may cause digestive upset, including diarrhoea and vomiting, and have more serious health effects.

“We deeply regret this situation occurred and can assure you that we are working with our suppliers to further improve product safety procedures and prevent a similar mistake from happening again.”